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04 Aug 2014

Following a delay in the processing of her international visa, U.K. actress Isobel Pravda finally arrived in New York to reprise her acclaimed performance in the American premiere of the award-winning Czech stage drama The Good and the True at Off-Broadway's DR2 Theatre.

Pravda, who originated the role of her grandmother — Holocaust survivor Hana Pravda — in the play's U.K. and Belgium touring productions last year, began performances Off-Broadway Aug. 2, the show's opening night.

Last week British actress Hannah D. Scott had assumed the role of Hana Pravda for all preview performances.

"We're delighted that Isobel Pravda's work visa was finally processed and received, and that she was able to fly to New York yesterday morning, just in time for Opening Night," said lead producer Brian Daniels in a statement. "We're also endlessly thankful and grateful to the remarkable Hannah Scott for stepping up to take on the role while Isobel's visa situation was being rectified."

The drama co-stars Saul Reichlin as Holocaust survivor Milos Dobry.

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The Good and the True was written by Daniel Hrbek, Tomas Hrbek and Lucie Kolouchova, and adapted as an English-language version by Brian Daniels. It is helmed by award-winning Czech director Daniel Hrbek.

The play, according to press notes, "intertwines the true testimonies of two extraordinary people — Czech athlete Milos Dobry and actress Hana Pravda. They both spent their working lives building suspense, knocking crowds into submission and drawing gasps and acclaim from spectators — but this pales in significance compared to their earlier lives enduring the indignities of incarceration and survival at the hands of occupied Czechoslovakia in the 1930s."

The play's English title was created from the English translations of its subjects' last names: Dobry, the Czech word for "good," and Pravda, the Czech word for "true."

The production features scenic design and costume design by Daniel Hrbek, lighting design by Karel Simek and sound design by Martin Hejl. The American premiere is produced by Svandovo Divadlo, Prague; and the New End Theatre, London with leading theatre impresario Brian Daniels.